5 trades for Russell Westbrook the Houston Rockets should pursue

Ahead of the 2019-20 NBA season, the Houston Rockets pulled off a trade for Russell Westbrook that sent the NBA world into a frenzy. The Rockets sent All-Star point guard Chris Paul, their first-round picks in 2024 and 2026 (top-four protected), plus 2021 and 2025 pick swap rights, to the Thunder in exchange for Westbrook. 

After finishing up their regular season at 44-28 in the NBA Bubble, the Rockets drew the 4-seed in the Western Conference Playoffs and ended up defeating Chris Paul and the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 7. They then went on to lose in five games to the eventual 2020 NBA Champions, the Los Angeles Lakers, in the Western Conference Semifinals.

This offseason, Houston decided to move on from Head Coach Mike D’Antoni and GM Daryl Morrey, leaving this “small-ball” Rockets in limbo and lots of questions about the future of the organization.

Russell Westbrook was hurt for most of the 2020 NBA Playoffs, but when he was there on the court, he was not very productive, averaging just 17.9 points, 7.0 rebounds and 4.6 assists, while shooting 42.1% from the floor in 8 games.

Now, at 32 years of age and $131.5M owed to him over the course of the next three seasons and a $46.7M player option in 2022-23, Westbrook is at the center of many trade discussions and seems to have had his Rockets’ tenure cut to just a single season. 

The Rockets basically gave up four first-round picks and a future Hall-of-Famer in Chris Paul to acquire Russell Westbrook in hopes that he and James Harden could deliver a title to Houston, but one chance seems like it is all they will get as The Athletic’s Shams Charnia reported that Westbrook now wants out of Houston.

With both Russell Westbrook ready to move on from Houston and the Rockets ready to take their organization in a new direction, where will the 9x All-Star and triple-double machine end up?

Let’s examine the best five trades the Houston Rockets can likely pursue in efforts to rebuild the franchise into a title contender once again.

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